crossposted @ www.vermontbloggernaut.blogspot.com

A friend sent me an e-mail with these helpful tips.  He works a fuel company so I didn’t want him to take flack at work for these hot tips.  Some I’d heard before, some I hadn’t.

Only buy or fill up your car or  truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground  the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon   or in the evening….your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel  and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.   A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.    

When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast  mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3)stages: low, middle, and high.  In slow mod e you should be pumping on low speed, thereby  minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are  pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting less   worth for your money.    

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your  tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.    

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up–most likely the gasoline is  being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.  Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!   WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON    Gas rationing in the 80’s worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor.  An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.   Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia.  Just buy from gas companies that don’t import their oil from the Saudis.  

Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends.   I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.   These companies import Middle Eastern oil:   Shell…………………….. 205,742,000 barrels  

Chevron/Texaco…….. 144,332,000 barrels  

Exxon/Mobil…………… 130,082,000 barrels  

Marathon/Speedway…117,740,000 barrels  

Amoco………………………62,231,000 barrels  

Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans. If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now $90 – $100 a barrel)   Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:  

Sunoco……………..0 barrels  

Conoco……………..0 barrels  

Sinclair…………….0 barrels  

BP/Phillips…………0 barrels  

Hess………………….0 barrels  

ARC0………………..0 barrels  

If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations near you.   All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.  

crossposted @ www.vermontbloggernaut.blogspot.com

So the long anticipated, short-term fix to the Grand Isle Drawbridge has been completed. Where once traffic traveled over rust, the metal is bare and bright. No longer do Islanders traveling north and south have to worry about dropping through into the lake. VTrans did a good job of facilitating a solution, but most of the credit belongs to Engineers Construction Inc.

The workers from ECI were diligent in their work in spite of all sorts of adverse weather conditions, from rain, wind, snow, and extreme cold to a mini ice storm. After the ice they had to break the whole bridge free, before restarting their work. All the while, cars trooped north and south only a few feet away. That crew certainly worked hard for the money they earned.

Now that this chapter has closed in the story of our drawbridge, I wonder what the next one holds. After all, this is still only a temporary fix, and I have yet to hear what the state plans to do next. For that matter has anyone in the Islands heard anything? Of course not!  

There have been no public meetings on the future of the bridge. The state and VTrans are having their little meetings down in Montpelier, behind closed doors, without any input from islanders. It’s apparent that they only care to do what they want, not what we want. Where is our senator, where are our representatives?

Islanders please let you voices be heard! Talk to Senator Mazza, and Representatives Trombley and Johnson, voice your concerns. Don’t stop there! Contact the governor, VTrans, your local selectboard, your neighbors! Islanders need to be heard on a subject near and dear to their hearts, their drawbridge, our input is important!!

crossposted @ www.vermontbloggernaut.blogspot.com

I’ll tell you why, what’s the single most greatest thing Jim Douglas has done attaining the governorship?   (Cue crickets chirping)  Anything?  Anyone?  That’s right, Douglas’s greatest accomplishment thus far has been to continually fly under the radar and avoid any real issues.

Talk, now this is something that Douglas is good at!  Talk about affordability, talk about lowering taxes.  Has he helped make any of it happen?  He talks and talks, and finds a whole host of reasons to blame his inability to do something on everybody else.

How about the people he surrounds himself with?  Cronies.  So far three of his appointments to the Fish and Wildlife board have had to resign for breaking fish and game laws, some example to set.  Then there’s Lunderville, the Governors campaign manager turned Secretary of Transportation.  How about the Secretary of Agriculture, former WCAX reporter Anson Tebbits?

Our current governor has made a profession of sitting on the fence, while shooting down either side.  He won’t come swinging on any real issues of substance because he’s afraid he might alienate voters.  The problem in this day and age, is Vermont needs a governor who stands up for us.  Douglas however, chooses to sit behind his desk.

We need a governor who’s not afraid to make themself unpopular.  Someone who will take on real issues of substance and reach out to help working Vermonters.  That will never be Jim Douglas!  He spends to much time being afraid of his own shadow to ever be an effective governor.

crossposted @ www.vermontbloggernaut.blogspot.com

Today, 3/21/08 the Grand Isle Drawbridge was reopened to two-way traffic, no more one way! This was a VTrans success as the bridge is the heart of Grand Isle County, the connection between all 5 towns. Finished well before the navigational season on Lake Champlain begins, with north and south of the bridge still frozen.

A big kudos to the diligent crew from Engineers Construction Inc, who was contracted for the repair. They worked through extreme cold, wind, snow, driving rain, and a mini-ice storm. After the ice they had to break apart everything that had frozen to the bridge before they could recommence their work. Everyone is now safer who travels over the bridge, even is it is only a temporary fix. A more permanent replacement will be needed in the future.

Without this drawbridge Grand Isle County would literally be divided into a north and south. VTrans did a hell of a job formulating a plan and enacting it.  People no longer have to worry about dropping through into the lake when they pass over the bridge!!

Crossposted at www.vermontbloggernaut.blogspot.com

For the Vermont State Police, the Vermont State Auditor’s Office, and the Vermont Attorney General’s office.  It’s been over a year since the town clerk in the island hamlet of Isle La Motte confessed to embezzling money.  Shazaam!!  In swoops the press, and state agencies who confiscate records and vow to get to the bottom.

NOTHING HAS HAPPENED SINCE!  The poor town has not had any closure, or the benefit of knowing what really happened to their money.  Are Vermont’s state agencies incapable of this investigation?  Who’s dropping the ball here?  Why on earth is it taking so long?  She confessed to taking the money!!

Funny thing is a month after this stunning revelation, a town clerk over in New York was busted embezzling $150,000.  Guess what?  That case is all wrapped up and the guilty party is in jail.  Why the heck is it taking Vermont so long to do the same?  Does the state just not care because the crime it didn’t occur in Chittenden county?  Because now it’s old news?

You’d think that one of the “gold towns” of Grand Isle County that sends so much revenue to the states coiffures would warrant a speedy and thorough investigation.  It would appear that the issue has been backburnered indefinately.  Why leave a whole town hanging?  It may be a year later, but there are still some pretty hard feelings on the island.

Had this been Chittenden County, the investigation would have been concluded last summer.

I’m a little late with this one.  I’ve been fighing the flu for five days now.  But now that I can think without feeling like my head will explode I need to revisit what I saw on WCAX’s “You Can Quote Me” last Sunday.   The guests were Chris Dutton and Mary Powell of Green Mountain Power.  Across the table were Marselies Parsons and Andy Potter of WCAX.

The discussion was about the future of energy in Vermont as we currently pay less per kilowatt hour than most of the other states around us.  80% of our power comes from Vermont Yankee at 4 cents a kilowatt hour, and Hydroquebec at 7 cents a kilowatt hour.  States around us pay between like 9 and 13 cents per kilowatt hour.

The whole conversation began cordially enough with the discussion of windpower, and problems citing it in Vermont.  The folks from GMP seemed pretty on the ball and big fans of green energy.  They talked about their two big drivers being energy affordability and sustainability.  Then Parsons came out of nowhere.

He wanted to know, since GMP was just bought by the Canadian company Gas Metro if they could use their new contacts to get Vermont cheap natural gas.  For of all things a gas fired electrical plant here in Vermont.  The folks from GMP responded that not really, the price of gas is what it is, if we don’t want to buy it for their price someone else will.  They also went further though, in that because most of the energy consumption in Vermont is in Chittenden County, a plant like Parsons was talking about would have to be sited there or close by.

Did I miss something here?  Are we not running out of fossil fuels?  And WCAX wants us to continue with them?   Time to move on to greener pastures, thinking like this got us where we are in the first place.  by the time we build this facility we are then locked into using it, whatever the price of gas skyrockets to.  Is this sound thinking?  WCAX was way off base on this one, I’m glad the folks at GMP possess better foresight.